To increase the maximum recording time in the Sound Recorder utility:

1. Make sure that you have installed a functional microphone, and then start the Sound Recorder utility.For additional information about how to troubleshoot problems that you may have with your microphone connection, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
   266677  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/266677/EN-US/ ) How to Troubleshoot Microphone Issues
2. Click Record, and then let Sound Recorder run for 60 seconds.
3. After Sound Recorder stops recording, click Save As on the File menu, and name the file Blank.wav.
4. To increase the maximum recording time in Sound Recorder, click Insert File on the Edit menu, and then insert the Blank.wav file that you saved in step 3. When you do this, the maximum recording time is increased by 60 seconds. You can repeat this step once for each additional minute of recording time that you want to add. For example, for a 5-minute recording time, insert the Blank.wav file five times.

To make Sound Recorder use the extended length of recording time automatically:

1. Right-click Start, and then click Open.
2. Double-click the Programs folder.
3. Double-click the Accessories folder.
4. Double-click the Multimedia folder or the Entertainment folder.
5. Right-click Sound Recorder, and then click Properties.
6. Click the Shortcut tab.
7. In the Target box, press the END key, press the SPACEBAR, and then type the location of the Blank.wav file.
   
   For example, if the target is "C:\Windows\sndrec32.exe", and the location of the Blank.wav file is C:\Blank.wav, the new line in the Target box is "C:\Windows\sndrec32.exe C:\Blank.wav"

The next time you start Sound Recorder, the Blank.wav file opens automatically. After you record your new .wav file, you can click Delete After Current Position on the Edit menu to remove the extra blank space in the file.

NOTE: When you finish recording and editing your new .wav file, save the file with a new file name.